Early in my career, I attended a lot of nutrition research conferences. And it seemed like no seminar was complete without the requisite symposium on the role of soy protein in building better bones.
I was always skeptical of those claims – and now there’s a study that challenges them.
European researchers studied 237 early-post-menopausal women (average age of 53). For one year, the women consumed a soy product diet (providing 110 mg of isoflavones) or a control diet without soy products. The results showed that, contrary to popular belief, the soy isoflavones did not improve the women’s bone mineral density.
Instead of soy, I recommend good old-fashioned weight-bearing exercise to improve the strength of your bones. At the very least, every woman should have a daily walking program. In addition, women should perform at least two total-body resistance-training workouts per week.
Not only will this improve your bone mineral density, you will also get stronger. And strength and muscle mass can help reduce your risk of falling as you age.
[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne is the creator of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss system. For a free online source of information, motivation, and social support to help you improve your health, lose weight, and get fit, sign up for ETR's free natural health e-letter.]
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